"So how's it going?" Mac asked as she came down at 2230. It had taken
almost two hours to get Abi settled. Harm had papers scattered all over the
dinning room table.
"Not well. Sturgis threw me a total curve ball which sends my strategy out the window. I have to completely rethink it before 0900 tomorrow morning. It's going to be a long night." He yawned. "I'm going to make some coffee. Do you want some?"
"I'll have some orange juice if we have any left."
"Coming up."
Mac picked up his note pad outlining his former strategy; there were notes on what Sturgis had done to counteract it. She picked up another couple of pieces of paper and quickly read those too. She picked up the witness list for the defence and then compared it to the list for the prosecution. Mac frowned slightly and tore a piece of paper from the legal pad and scribbled down some notes.
"Juice." Harm set a glass down in front of her a few minutes later and sat down with his coffee.
"You were planning on going in front of Colonel Blakely with this?" Mac asked holding up the legal pad.
"Yes." Harm replied.
"Do you want your client to spend twelve years of hard labour at Leavenworth?"
"No."
"And you really thought this was going to stop that from happening?"
"It's a legitimate strategy."
"If you want your client to end in jail for twelve years." Mac repeated.
"And you have a better solution?"
"Here." She handed him the paper she had been writing on.
"I thought we had a rule about you looking at my cases in case you had to become involved in them."
"Harm, you're half way through your court martial. I'm 98% that Colonel Blakely will be around for the rest of it, besides which if there was a problem he could just place a continuance on it until he was back. My schedule is now packed with things that Admiral Morris was supposed to be doing since he's had to take over the Godspeed court martial. I think there is little chance of me getting involved."
"Still this will set a dangerous precedent."
"It's a one off, you're exhausted and I'm not having you fall asleep in court tomorrow."
"I'll be fine."
"It will only prejudice the members against you; you know what happened to Bud when he fell asleep. Colonel Blakely will come down on you like a tonne of bricks."
"Mac, I don't want you getting into trouble over this."
"I won't. Think of it this way, it's my job to make sure justice is served. Even if your client is guilty as hell, he gets the best defence possible. My helping you come up with a new strategy is a way to get that done."
"You want to help make sure justice is served." Harm repeated.
"Plus I'd like my husband back sometime tonight." She leant across the table and kissed him.
"Okay you can help; any suggestions will be gratefully received."
"Harm you told me the first time I was a judge that I knew your playbook and I called you on it."
"Yes."
"Sturgis knows it pretty well too, so does Colonel Blakely."
"I'm beginning to see that." He said with a sigh.
"So stop thinking like a Navy flyboy and start thinking like a Marine." Mac said.
"How's that going to help?" He asked.
"Marines are different to sailors; you get to sit around on your ships, fire the starbursts from a remote distance, drop bombs from planes unless you're a SEAL but lets forget about those for a minute. Marines on the other hand go to the front line; they storm the beach, that's what they are trained to do. They're trained to kill face to face and they have to deal with the repercussions of that."
"The Navy trains its people in combat skills too." Harm pointed out.
"But not to the same level as the Marines. I can shoot a clean shot from 200 yards no problem because that's what I'm trained to do. It's a different mentality. Just like you were trained to fly F-14's so therefore you have a different attitude to someone who was trained to pilot a sub or that of a field corps man."
"You really think it's that different an attitude?" Harm asked.
"Just think of some of the cases we had to investigate involving pilot mishaps. Your attitude and knowledge as a pilot is different to mine as someone who can read all the technical manuals, maybe go up once or twice, but at the end of the day I'm not a combat pilot and I never will be because I wasn't trained to be."
"So we have different perspectives?"
"Exactly. What I see as pilot error could just as easily be a technical error or equipment failure and I wouldn't know because I don't know every inch of a tomcat the way you do."
"So to win this case I have to start thinking like a Marine."
"Exactly, start looking at it from a different perspective. Put yourself in your clients place."
"And you're going to help?"
"Well I wouldn't leave you to think like a Marine by yourself, you might hurt yourself."
"Why you?" He reached across the table to tickle her. Mac shrieked. "Hey you'll wake you Abi."
"Then stop tickling me, because we have work to do Commander."
"Whatever you say ma'am."
TBC
"Not well. Sturgis threw me a total curve ball which sends my strategy out the window. I have to completely rethink it before 0900 tomorrow morning. It's going to be a long night." He yawned. "I'm going to make some coffee. Do you want some?"
"I'll have some orange juice if we have any left."
"Coming up."
Mac picked up his note pad outlining his former strategy; there were notes on what Sturgis had done to counteract it. She picked up another couple of pieces of paper and quickly read those too. She picked up the witness list for the defence and then compared it to the list for the prosecution. Mac frowned slightly and tore a piece of paper from the legal pad and scribbled down some notes.
"Juice." Harm set a glass down in front of her a few minutes later and sat down with his coffee.
"You were planning on going in front of Colonel Blakely with this?" Mac asked holding up the legal pad.
"Yes." Harm replied.
"Do you want your client to spend twelve years of hard labour at Leavenworth?"
"No."
"And you really thought this was going to stop that from happening?"
"It's a legitimate strategy."
"If you want your client to end in jail for twelve years." Mac repeated.
"And you have a better solution?"
"Here." She handed him the paper she had been writing on.
"I thought we had a rule about you looking at my cases in case you had to become involved in them."
"Harm, you're half way through your court martial. I'm 98% that Colonel Blakely will be around for the rest of it, besides which if there was a problem he could just place a continuance on it until he was back. My schedule is now packed with things that Admiral Morris was supposed to be doing since he's had to take over the Godspeed court martial. I think there is little chance of me getting involved."
"Still this will set a dangerous precedent."
"It's a one off, you're exhausted and I'm not having you fall asleep in court tomorrow."
"I'll be fine."
"It will only prejudice the members against you; you know what happened to Bud when he fell asleep. Colonel Blakely will come down on you like a tonne of bricks."
"Mac, I don't want you getting into trouble over this."
"I won't. Think of it this way, it's my job to make sure justice is served. Even if your client is guilty as hell, he gets the best defence possible. My helping you come up with a new strategy is a way to get that done."
"You want to help make sure justice is served." Harm repeated.
"Plus I'd like my husband back sometime tonight." She leant across the table and kissed him.
"Okay you can help; any suggestions will be gratefully received."
"Harm you told me the first time I was a judge that I knew your playbook and I called you on it."
"Yes."
"Sturgis knows it pretty well too, so does Colonel Blakely."
"I'm beginning to see that." He said with a sigh.
"So stop thinking like a Navy flyboy and start thinking like a Marine." Mac said.
"How's that going to help?" He asked.
"Marines are different to sailors; you get to sit around on your ships, fire the starbursts from a remote distance, drop bombs from planes unless you're a SEAL but lets forget about those for a minute. Marines on the other hand go to the front line; they storm the beach, that's what they are trained to do. They're trained to kill face to face and they have to deal with the repercussions of that."
"The Navy trains its people in combat skills too." Harm pointed out.
"But not to the same level as the Marines. I can shoot a clean shot from 200 yards no problem because that's what I'm trained to do. It's a different mentality. Just like you were trained to fly F-14's so therefore you have a different attitude to someone who was trained to pilot a sub or that of a field corps man."
"You really think it's that different an attitude?" Harm asked.
"Just think of some of the cases we had to investigate involving pilot mishaps. Your attitude and knowledge as a pilot is different to mine as someone who can read all the technical manuals, maybe go up once or twice, but at the end of the day I'm not a combat pilot and I never will be because I wasn't trained to be."
"So we have different perspectives?"
"Exactly. What I see as pilot error could just as easily be a technical error or equipment failure and I wouldn't know because I don't know every inch of a tomcat the way you do."
"So to win this case I have to start thinking like a Marine."
"Exactly, start looking at it from a different perspective. Put yourself in your clients place."
"And you're going to help?"
"Well I wouldn't leave you to think like a Marine by yourself, you might hurt yourself."
"Why you?" He reached across the table to tickle her. Mac shrieked. "Hey you'll wake you Abi."
"Then stop tickling me, because we have work to do Commander."
"Whatever you say ma'am."
TBC
